The present invention relates to evidence gathering kits, and more particularly to improvements therein for gathering and handling body and body fluid evidence.
Body and body fluid evidence, i.e., blood, semen, saliva, urine, DNA samples, hair samples, etc., for certain types of crimes, e.g., rape, are critical for the determination of likely suspects and for proving the guilt or innocence of an accused at trial. The time span between the crime's incidence and later investigation and/or trial can be lengthy. Body fluid evidence is especially subject to destruction, compromise, deterioration, and/or contamination because of aging, humidity, improper and/or rough handling. Body fluid specimens will deteriorate because of humidity and age. Specimen slides will break due to rough handling. Slide breakage and/or the jostling together of various applicators, swabs and wipes may cause contamination of individual specimens. Various evidence specimens can become separated due to improper handling thereby compromising the evidence.
It is desirable to have a kit which permits gathering and storing of body and body fluid evidence in a convenient manner and yet in a manner which facilitates proper evidence handling. The kit should also lend itself to keeping the specimens dry and be easily refrigerated. In the past, storage boxes with slides, applicators, swabs, bags, envelopes, and other evidence gathering paraphernalia loosely assembled therein have been used. However, this configuration lends itself to contamination among samples, breakage due to rough handling, and poor trackability of specimens. Plastic baggies have been commonly used to prevent contamination. However, this retards sample drying. Dry samples are less subject to deterioration than "wet" samples. All evidence specimens from a particular incident are placed together for convenience, albeit usually individually packaged, in a container. Because of the number of individuals handling the evidence during an investigation and later trial, there is much jostling together of the specimens. As a result, evidence is frequently contaminated and/or compromised.